Honestly, I'd like to write about something different, but I can't. When the ELCA continually presents false information, encourages destructive sins and makes hateful resolutions, it must be exposed. So here I am writing about homosexuality again. I've written about the ELCA and homosexuality so many times this summer it seems almost constant. But the truth is that the ELCA is obsessed with homosexuality and the ELCA glowingly writes about it and talks about it and forces their opinion of it down their membership's throats. (see here, here, here and here) The September 2013 issue of The Lutheran, the official magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, had a big article on homosexuality again, which presented this false justification for homosexuality to their ELCA readership, “There is no Greek or Hebrew word that corresponds exactly to our word 'homosexual.' You may have participated in a Bible study where the term was used. But that's a modern application of the word. The category or classification that we may refer to as homosexuality did not exist in biblical times. The few scriptural references to lusting or exploitative sexual behaviors between same- or differently gendered people have nothing to do with the abiding personal companionship, enduring love, shared intimacy, and trusting commitment of gay and straight couples who cherish such qualities in our day.” (read here) The ELCA hopes if they say homosexuality is “good” enoughtimes, people will start to believe them instead of God's Word. The ELCA wants to indoctrinate church members into believing that the homosexual lifestyle is perfectly fine, that it is normal and the way God made those individuals to be. How else can you explain the ELCA's obsession with declaring to their members that homosexuality is to be considered normal? This plan has worked, to a great extent. When trusted pastors explain to their congregations that same-sex relationships are fine, people are going to believe them, especially those who have little Biblical knowledge. And when synod bishops say it, ELCA assemblies declare it, ELCA pastors claim it, ELCA seminaries and colleges teach it and ELCA publications expound on it, church members are going to start to believe it. Maybe not all members believe it immediately. There are some who have stayed with their ELCA congregation who know what God says in Scripture about same-sex relationships. They thought it wouldn't affect them or their local church, but they are constantly being fed this line of cow dung by the denomination. A majority of these members will succumb to the lie and will eventually view homosexuality as good. Sadly, many of the people have made an informed choice to stay in the denomination. They have known of the ELCA's departure from God's Word, but they have placed their lifelong loyalty, to a church building or friends, over what they know is true. They stay in churches despite knowing that the ELCA is teaching in opposition to Scripture. They justify it in their minds and they begrudgingly go down the path of acceptance because, after all, their parents and grandparents belonged to their church and are buried in the church cemetery. They can't leave their church, no matter what they are being taught. Whether we like it or not, followers end up emulating their leaders. Spiritual leaders have a great deal of influence. I do hope that people are willing to recognize how they are being influenced and take a stand for Truth, standing to their feet and walking out for the sake of what is far more important than tradition or generational loyalty, but instead out of obedience and allegiance to God.

Dan, We have talked before. I know we disagree but have you considered the possibility that there are hundreds of thousands, maybe even a few million remaining members of the ELCA who disagree with your views and who support same gender relationships and ordinations? All of your posts and stories seem to suggest that if people only knew they would run from the ELCA. I am in a very active ELCA church in a very active ELCA synod. We are adding new members because of who we are. People are not running away from us.

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Dan

9/4/2013 12:53:09 pm

Hi Kevin, I have considered that and believe you are right, that there are many, perhaps millions of people, that agree with the ELCA. But do they all know about the universalism being preached? The denial of historical events by the ELCA? The antisemitism? The goddess worship that is allowed? I doubt there are that many that know all these things. But back to your question. I can only present the facts to people, they are responsible for what they do with it. This verse speaks to that in some extent - Ezekiel 3:18-19

If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

Only those who have ears to hear will heed your warnings, Dan. Keep standing squarely athwart the ear-tickling apostates who continually dishonor the Word of the Lord and grease the skids under unrepentant sinners.

". . . the Christian church in America is facing more aggressive challenges to its core beliefs than we have experienced for a long time. Two challenges are the most pressing and must be met with clear and firm guidance from the Great Tradition.

The first challenge disputes the orthodox teaching that Jesus Christ is only path to salvation, that Jesus and his work of redemption are unique and decisive for all the world. This is sharply opposed by current cultural demands that any acceptable faith be inclusive, universal, and non-judgmental. Any culturally accepted faith must affirm and include everyone as they are—the classic requirements of repentance, forgiveness, and amendment of life are simply too demanding. Further, Christians must drop their exclusive claims that Jesus is the only way and admit that all religions are simply different paths to the same goal. Evangelism must be turned into dialogue. Further, the old claim that there are two destinations for every soul—either heaven or hell—must be given up for the more palatable claim that all will be saved in the end. Thus, Christians must be tolerant of all sorts of beliefs since they finally will not matter anyway.

Now this challenge is held not only by “New Age” people outside the church who are “spiritual” but not “religious.” It is also held within churches by many theologians who are willing to compromise the teachings of the Great Tradition for those more compatible with a world that emphasizes diversity and tolerance. But the Great Tradition allows for no such distortions—Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Once the church departs from that affirmation it will soon lose its special mission to convey the Gospel. The decline of the missionary impulse in the mainline denominations is a case in point. Their over-involvement in political agitation is another.

The second great challenge—even sharper and more intimidating than the first—is aimed at the churches’ teaching on marriage and sexual ethics. The sexual liberation themes of the 60s have worked through the culture with relentless momentum and are now attempting to render classical Christian teachings outside the bounds of respectable public discourse. A Supreme Court Justice has even suggested that holding to the traditional teachings is mean-spirited, bigoted, and irrational, no longer fit for consideration by people of good will.

Many activists and theologians within the mainline denominations have succumbed to the cultural trends and convinced themselves that their churches can marry gays and lesbians, as well as accept partnered homosexuals as pastors. Homosexual conduct has been morally legitimized as a concession to the culture. These moves have been church-dividing because they are so obviously against the plain sense reading of the Bible as well as the long tradition of Christian sexual ethics. The same denominations have accommodated their teachings of allow for pre-marital sex, co-habitation, and abortion. Their slope is as slippery as the culture’s. . . . "

James Mott

9/5/2013 09:42:42 am

I have held off leaving the ELCA. Only because I like the local church, but I will be going back to the church I started in, an LCMS church. I picked up a pamplet at the local Roman Catholic Church about their beliefs, I will look , but there are 7 ways to be a part of someone elses sin, Condoning is one, not speakig is another.

The issue at stake here is that the ELCA is teaching that human understanding and desires are above God's will. This teaching allows us to fall back into our natural state, one of selfishness. When we truly accept Christ into our hearts, just like Paul said, we are made new. Whatever it is that drove our desires is replaced by the burning desire to please our Lord and Savior in all that we do. Bound conscience and the normalizing of homosexual behavior has nothing to do with properly loving our neighbor. It has everything to do with placating the selfish nature of a fallen humanity. Jesus said that one must deny oneself to follow Him. That is where the leaders of the ELCA fail their membership and it is a slippery slope for those that allow selfishness to overcome their love of our Lord in an effort to be more tolerant, welcoming and diverse. Even though we may agree on most doctrinal issues, those that accept these dividing issues open a large crack in the door for the evil one. After all, our selfishness is what always seems to get us in trouble with the Lord.

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Chuck Braun

9/4/2013 12:19:23 pm

I am happy for the souls of those buried in ELCA church cemeteries, since they are with the Lord now. If they could see what their churches have become, they would be outraged and would demand that their family members leave their churches. I would have no compulsion in disinterring my deceased ancestors' remains and reburying them elsewhere, At my former ELCA church, they have scattered the ashes of those who have died over the last decade, making it impossible to retrieve them.

I recall a verse where Jesus said that the saints would have a part in His Judgment on the Last Day. How would I answer my Savior and my ancestors when giving an account of how I remained in an apostate church?

Don't get me wrong; there are Christians in ELCA pews. But these people are subjecting their children to exposure to a false gospel. Who would want to take such chances with the eternal destinies of these precious lambs being tended by false shepherds?

In the August 2013 issue of Charisma magazine, J. Lee Grady writes this in his article entitled "Spineless Christianity produces spineless Christians":

"Paul not only confronted sin but named specific sins when he preached. Why can't we? We can't preach about materialism because we might offend rich people as well as the poor people who buy lotto tickets every week. We can't preach about fornication because some people in the church are living together. We can't preach about homosexuality because our culture says it is hateful to label that as sin. In fact, some preachers avoid the word altogether because it is too negative. And we all know that the latest polls show people want a positive message. However, Paul instructed Timothy to 'Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time is coming when men will not put up with sound doctrine' (II Timothy 4:2,3).

'We have rewritten Paul's words today. Our rule is: 'Preach what the people want to hear! Avoid controversy? Stroke, soothe, and pacify the people so they will come back next week!' Is it any wonder that this low-protein spiritual diet has produced an anemic (Laodicean) church?"

The Ersatz Lutheran Church in America invites an indictment worse than the one for craven cowardice. Yes, many pastors who know homosexual sex is a sin are indeed afraid to preach about it. Many ELCA pastors not only fail to warn about homosexual sin, they endorse their denomination's embrace of sin and heresy and its active propulsion of unrepentant sinners toward damnation.

With the ELCA, it's not a case of spineless Christianity. It's spurious Christianity.

I admit it I am a diehard ScyFy fan. Recently, out of boredom, I took to watching “Lost Girl,” It’s opening monologue, by the lead character, Bo, struck me:
“Life is hard when you don't know who you are. It's harder if you don't know what you are. My love carries a death sentence. I was lost for years, searching while hiding, only to find I belong to a world hidden from humans. I won't hide anymore. I will live the life I choose."
This is Fantasy, but, Bo is a Succubus, “come out of the closet” so to speak. She is a blatantly bisexual, hypersexual character that is a marvelous analogy of the “free love,” “sexual liberation,” in our hedonistic society. All her relationships are dysfunctional to toxic, but proudly displayed – “I will live the life I choose." Which is hedonism in a nutshell, with a touch of Narcissism thrown in as well!

Her story: Bo is a bisexual Succubus, who was raised by human parents that adopted her as a baby. During her first sexual experience, she killed her high school boyfriend by draining him of his life energy. Not knowing what she had done and why it had happened, Bo ran away from home, living a life without friends or family, and moving from place to place and changing identities each time she killed again. It was not until she was discovered by the Fae, and helped by the Light Fae's human doctor, that she finally learned what she was and how to control her chi-draining powers.
Eastern mysticism and fairies (Fae) aside. It is a good summation of Liberal Progressive worldview and theology: Live the life you choose, heedless of responsibilities or consequences. Eat drink and by merry, life is just a dream, there are no absolute truths, or if there are we can’t know them. That is fantasy - that nothing is wrong as long as “I live the life I choose!” Free Love runs smack into the reality of not only AIDS, but a growing list of incurable STDs, remember “Herpes is forever,” but we have over the counter remedies which control symptoms, but not transmission. Not to fear! There are condoms, oral damns, foams. There are also bullet proof vests, but that does not mean I’d like to strap one on and stand in front of a colt 45 to test it out! The worst crock ever sold the American public was “Safe Sex,” if you believe that; ask your parents if you were a busted condom baby! “Safer,” maybe, but bulletproof hardly! True you get better odds, statistically speaking, but ask those suffering from innumerable incurable STDs if the gamble was worth it! We can manage symptoms, prolong life, but the cost is steep for my individual freedom. A wise teacher once told me, “My personal freedom ends where the other person’s nose begins, and that is where my responsibilities start!”
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” – (Galatiands3:13-25 –NIV)

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Gavin Reed

9/5/2013 12:55:06 pm

I think Dan has got the subservient ELCA churchgoers pegged to a tee: "They have known of the ELCA's departure from God's Word, but they have placed their lifelong loyalty to a church building or friends, over what they know is true...because, after all, their parents and grandparents belonged to their church and are buried in the church cemetery." Their religion, which is nothing more than family tradition, is not Christianity: "If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26).

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Kevin Cook

9/6/2013 01:40:29 am

Gavin, I will have to disagree with you. I joined the ELCA as an adult. My wife joined as an adult after being raised Catholic and leaving the church some years earlier. She says this is the first time she has felt comfortable in an organized religion. The people I attend church with make a conscious decision to be in the ELCA. It is not the building, family tradition or who is buried where. We are not subservient to the ELCA. Because people who disagree with us don't understand how we can have our beliefs, they assume wrongly that we are being led blindly. The problem as I see it is that we are never going to agree. You are going to quote Bible verses and declare that we are not Christians and we are at times going to take offense and reply. But I am finding out that after many many years no one really changes their minds. People just get more entrenched in their positions. So for the most part I choose to not participate in the dialogue. Every year or so I may attempt a post to see if things have changed but I am finding that they don't. Gavin, we could get in a shouting match but it won't change either of us. I guess the best we can do is pray and that applies to all of us.

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Didaskalos

9/6/2013 01:57:30 pm

It would help if you would specifically articulate your beliefs, Kevin, and tell us what they're based on. What are the foundational tenets of your faith, and on what authority are they based? The Bible? The ELCA? A particular pastor? When a denomination's or pastor's teaching diverges from the Bible, who wins? And are you comfortable betting eternity on your choice of authority?

The Apostle Paul admonished us, "Test everything. Hold fast to that which is good."

He also admonished everyone who claims to be a believer, "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!"

Gavin Reed

9/8/2013 06:31:39 am

"He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Proverbs 29:1

Gavin Reed

9/5/2013 01:16:22 pm

To those who may have been taught the false doctrine of antinominism--that God requires nothing of anyone--I offer this:

"We think about the righteousness of reason like this: God requires it." (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV.22, McCain translation)

The world has a mandate for Christians: "Capitulate to us; then we'll all get along." The Evangelical (just what does it "evangelize" about these days?) Lutheran (Martin Luther would be revulsed by its abandonment of the Bible) Church in America has responded, "What a friend we have in totalitarian anti-Christian secularism."

"When Facts Offend"

. . . "The world has made it clear that even if we work to make accommodations, to agree to disagree, and to attempt to coexist with the modern world, none of it will be good enough. If we oblige by taking the more “uncomfortable” doctrines out of the world’s view, they will find natural facts that are just as uncomfortable and insist that we stop insisting on them.
A parallel can be drawn with the prediction made by C.S. Lewis when he pointed out that when “the modern world says to us aloud, ‘You may be religious when you are alone,’ it adds under its breath, ‘and I will see to it that you are never alone.’”

http://juicyecumenism.com/2013/09/06/14929/

"God and Country in the Same-Sex Era"

. . . "Religious calls to surrender in the culture wars believe a truce will win goodwill for traditional religion, not understanding the relentless, authoritarian character of sexual and social liberalism, which usually brooks no dissent. Same sex marriage and sexual orientation laws facilitate encroachments on private religious liberty and prepare tomorrow’s debates over polygamy, amid increasingly exotic claims over gender identity, with “open” bathrooms only a small first step."

[A commenter notes: "Christians who choose to disengage the culture will find the culture engaging them, and they will find it not only engaging them but forcing them to accept the capricious morality–or lack thereof–of a culture that is abandoning the foundations on which it was formed. Left-wing legality is the new morality. The way of least resistance–and most destruction–is modern liberalism."

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Kathy Suarez

9/8/2013 03:51:26 am

Didaskalos --

While I agree with almost everything you say, I have a couple of thoughts.... First, the Financial Report for the ELCA's Second Quarter is out, and it is grim. The Treasurer even added: "the churchwide organization is actively monitoring mission support trends." I think Dan has been successful in "exposing the ELCA." The denomination is becoming just another one of many small, irrelevant sects. There are 36 Lutheran denominations in North America.

Second, I have a question about Authority. I assume you base the authority of your beliefs on the Bible, but whose interpretation of the Bible? As we all know, almost every passage in Scripture can have many meanings and can be interpreted in many different ways. For example, Luther interpreted Matthew 16:18 very differently from the way the Catholic Church interprets it. Is the interpretation of Scripture for the entire church yourself or one of the small Lutheran denominations to which you belong -- or something else?

Didaskalos

9/9/2013 12:18:21 pm

Kathy,

Part of Paul's admonition to "test everything; hold fast to that which is good" means we have to examine every church's doctrine by what the Bible says about it. Generally speaking, my view of Scripture follows a hermeneutic principle by Dr. D. A. Waite: "When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studies in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise. God in revealing His Word neither intends nor permits the reader to be confused. He wants His children to understand."

We may have to pin down some of your terms, Kathy, specifically "entire church" vs. "small Lutheran denominations." (My denomination is the Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod, whose size, as I recall, is about 2.3 million.) Who is the "entire church"? If it includes the UCC, the Episcopalians, and the ELCA, it's in big spiritual and theological trouble. Within those apostate denominations, there are believing, Bible-honoring Christians, to be sure, but their presence props up denominational impediments to the Kingdom of God.

And for that matter, smallness isn't, per se, a detriment or an indictment. One has to examine the beliefs and practices -- the fruit -- of the denomination. Many small Lutheran denominations agree with the Baptists, Assemblies of God, Anglicans, Orthodox, and Catholics on foundational tenets of the Christian faith, and these big and little churches stand together against unrelenting Enemy attacks on our society, e.g., related to the Biblically articulated proscriptions against killing the innocent unborn and against any sexual relationships outside of a man-woman marriage.

We have to examine all contested questions on a case-by-case basis, looking to the Bible for its specific answers (and earnestly discussing it, to be sure, as early Church did). That's what Dan endeavors to do on Exposing the ELCA. Let me suggest a few foundational tenets on which "the entire church" should agree:

** We believe that there is one God eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Deuteronomy 6:4; I Timothy 1:17; Matthew 28:19)
** We believe the Bible is God's written revelation to mankind and is verbally inspired, authoritative, and without error. (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20-21)
** We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, death on the cross to provide for our redemption, bodily resurrection and ascension into heaven, present ministry of intercession for us, and His future return to earth in power and glory. (Philippians 2:6-8; Matthew 1:18-25; Hebrews 4:15; John 20:30-31; Romans 5:1-12; Acts 1:9-11)
** We believe in the present ministry and deity of the Holy Spirit, that He performs the miracle of new birth in an unbeliever and indwells believers, enabling them to live a godly life of effective service. (John 14:16-17; Galatians 5:22-25)
** We believe that mankind was created in the image of God, but, because of sin, was alienated from God. That alienation can be removed only by receiving, through faith alone, God's plan for salvation, which includes repentance and confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
** We believe in the resurrection of all the dead: the saved to eternal life dwelling forever with Christ, and the unsaved to everlasting judgment and condemnation. (John 5:24-29; Revelation 20:12-15)
** We believe that the church on earth is a spiritual unity made up of all Christians, those who have received Jesus as Savior and Lord. (I Corinthians 12:12-13)

pete

9/10/2013 06:03:13 pm

From the same article I drew a slightly different conclusion

Interesting take I agree. We are all people. I agree. However the Lutheran magazine achieve retrieves no fewer than 316 articles on homosexuality, you can search it yourself if you don't believe me. For comparision heterosexual appears only 44 times, mostly with an article about homosexuality. The point is that the leadership and the authors keep beating the drum. Let it go. If it does not matter then it does not matter.

So I searched for my Synod the southeren Ohio Synod. And guess what 69 articles. Several mentioned you guessed it the ' homosexual' issue and various votes ect.

Here's the point, some time ago this magazine published an article asking why the Church is shrinking and why congregations leave. Maybe there are other things going on beside who sleeps with which type of partner. But based on the archeives of your own articles it is at least 5 times more important to discuss homosexuality than news related to my own synod. Maybe that's why people don't feel connected. Thoughts?

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Kathy Suarez

9/11/2013 03:59:17 am

Didaskalos,

This discussion is getting off-topic for this blog, so I will answer briefly. The question of interpretation is central. (I have tried to explain this on my blog.) You follow your own interpretation using Waite as a guide: "God in revealing His Word neither intends nor permits the reader to be confused." Well, there is plenty of confusion out there! By "entire church" I mean the entire church. If the church is to be united, it must have a central authority for interpretation. What will that be? Waite? C.S. Lewis? Luther? Joe Blow from Kokomo? Each individual Christian, a.k.a "little pope"? -- Who or What?

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Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. ​1 Thessalonians 5:21

Dan Skogen

Former ELCA seminary student and former ELCA member who is fed up with the ELCA's consistent mockery of God's Word.

If you have been helped and blessed by Exposing the ELCA's ministry, please help us continue to proclaim the truth of God's Word to ELCA members who need to hear it.